Hi Everyone,
I bought an iPhone from an advert on Gumtree on Monday night.
I paid by PayPal but the phone never arrived and the seller is not responding.
PayPal will not have a bar of my complain and Gumtree will not accept my report of a scam.
Any ideas please on how I may get my money back? Can I lodge a police complaint about the scammer?
Thanks in advance for your ideas.
Nothing new, not surprised. There's like 10 threads like this on whirlpool related to gumtree and PayPal, have a look there.
OMG. Say goodbye to your money already.
Mate, I was in disbelief when gumtree started allowing paypal. Defeats the purpose, it used to be a place for local pickups…
Anyway, I believe you have to wait a few days before you can open a case in paypal. If that fails and you paid with card you can try and do a chargeback.
I think you should wait a few days first though, 3 days may not be enough time to panic yet although this does sound fishy
Why are you in disbelief? Gumtree belongs to eBay…
Raise a paypal dispute. Then contact the cops. Gumtree won't have any of it because it is clearly stated in their T&C that Gumtree is for face to face transactions only. Sending money is definitely a no-no.
If you check gumtree now, some items have a paypal and a tick next to it. I don't know when this happened but I can see how people got confused.
Meet at a mutually convenient location.
IE: a shopping centre of a cafe with free WiFi to test the device.
Good luck getting your money back…
Lesson leant, OP.
Sorry to say that, but you have to be more vigilant on Scumtree, and face-to-face meets are the only way to ensure a smooth transaction.
i bought few items and got them delivered, but after called and spoke few times.
but now, probably will not, unless items are low value.
i also sold and sent by post.
so yeah, thing like this are depends on your luck.
You got scammed by someone, sorry. Lesson learned. Meet up next time and pay by cash in hand when receiving the item.
Worth disputing on PayPal though.
I always make sure they send me a detailed/itemised invoice, not just a money transfer.
police won't do anything as it's a civil matter.
definitely wait a bit longer before panicking though, it's only been a few days.
All parcels have tracking now so you should have arranged that with the seller. Still too early to panic if you ask me. You expect a parcel to arrive in what, 2 days??
It could be worse. Just read about a bloke who was selling his car on Gumtree and let the bloke test drive it by himself. He drove off with the car and sold it on Facebook.
Not to worry. You are well covered.
Raise a Paypal dispute first and call Paypal customer service to escalate it to a claim immediately instead of waiting for another 7 days.
Paypal will compensate you the full amount and close the dispute after 10 business days without seller providing tracking information.
If you paid by credit card, you have an extra layer of security. You can contact your bank for a charge back against Paypal for non-receipt of the item. As long as there is no trackable delivery evidence, your money is safe.
I spoke from personal experience as I got scammed $66,000 by a seller. Paypal buyer protection covered $60,000 and Westpac Amex fraud protection covered the rest $6000.
BTW, I think you should give the seller a few more days.
what did you buy?
I paid for an iPhone Plus
@ islund
See who wako was replying to. I'm curious to know what Herbert bought for $66k on gumtree!
yeh the 66k I must knooooww
thought paypal only covered 20,000 hmmm
bad luck mate
Thanks for all your feedback.
Seller was in Port Macquarie and I am in Sydney.
They sent an invoice through Paypal with the full item description and the item was paid for via credit-card through Paypal so I thought I would have a leg to stand on seeing as Gumtree is owned by eBay anyway.
The seller now does not answer their phone and/or emails.
If you paid via credit card you should be able to claim your money back through them.
thank you
I'm curious to know how this all turns out. But I'm also curious to know what kind of communication you had originally had with the seller to begin with. You must have made some kind of arrangement before handing over your money?
Did you discuss what day he would send the item? and what method of postage was he going to use eg Express or registered post? Did you ask for the tracking number?
You also said you paid on Monday night. Give at least a day or two for the person to organise to send it out for you. They might also be working. If he did send it out the next day, expect 3-5 business days for it to arrive. That's normal.
If this bloke really has duped you and you've paid through Paypal, I'm sure you can get your money back by lodging a dispute. Just be patient because it really is too early to jump the gun.
will keep you updated.
Seller said it was posted Tuesday night via registered post and has gone all silent since - ad stayed in Gumtree for another 48 hours with another 90 visits since I paid for the phone.
It was only when I asked for confirmation that the phone was posted and questioned why the ad (Id. 1060459132) was still on Gumtree was it taken down.
If he posted Tuesday night, It won't go anywhere till Wednesday, so it's only really been two business days. Weekends don't count so you would probably get it Monday or Wednesday next week at the latest.
Quite a lot sellers leave their Gumtree ads up. I experience it all the time. Some are just lazy to take it off.
I have sold stuff on gumtree where the buyer did a bank transfer of $880 to me for a camera. I asked him on more than 1 occasion if he really wanted to do that. Of course I am not a scammer and I emailed him a few times to make sure that it got to him. However it does surprise me that people will do that. I hope that he has not been scammed since.
Anyway, back to this, if paypal does not want to support you, your credit card company should if you have paid by credit card. For paypal to even want to do anything, did the seller even provide any proof of postage, preferable a tracking number?
All the seller is prepared to say is that "it was posted" - no proof.
If I was the seller, I usually take a photo of the receipt with the tracking number.
I do have to say that it has only been Wednesday, Thurday, Friday. AusPost are by no means quick.
did the phone arrive? it is now the 5th so enough time for the post to deliver.
Any update??
Seriously? When dealing on Scumtree you meet in person. it's in the How to use Gumtree 101 booklet.
In the rare instance this is not a scam i would wait at least a week before panicking. Auspost takes forever for stuff to arrive and who knows when the seller actually posted the item. When was the last time you had contact with the seller?